Something SUPER important to consider here. People are suffering, and not because they are sick, but because they are afraid.

(thread) https://twitter.com/grabbahold/status/1312725393246285826

My best professor through all of schooling was in my second year of junior college. It was a political science class and he did a lecture on “the news.”
His name was Dr Michael Newbrough.

This lecture was aptly titled, “a logical case for optimism.”
It was so powerful to me, I ended up copying my lecture notes down in the last page of my journal.

I won’t post my journal here (because it’s private) but at the time, there had just been a major airliner crash over the ocean. Hundreds died. And he was explaining to us: yes— this is tragic and horrible. But....

“How many planes landed safely today?” And we all sat there in silence, with dumbstruck wonder.
The answer was around 30 million.
THIRTY MILLION!

And he said, “stop and think about that for a minute, millions of people— up in the sky— at this very moment. Traveling through the air in hunks if metal and technology—Going on honeymoons, going to graduations, visiting loved ones, going to see their first grandchild...”

“So yes, bad things happen— even horrible things, like this plane crash. And the ‘news’ focuses on the exception (this is why they call it news!) —but the news is often negative— which makes the rule the *good* things— and the exception (usually) the bad things.”

“Is optimism logical? Yes! Sure there are horrible things all over the world RIGHT NOW, famine, and war, and disease and plane crashes.... but there are SO many more GOOD things— babies being born, safe flights, poverty decreasing, flowers, butterflies, forgiveness, love...”

“Everything in your perspective for the rest of your life will come down to focusing on what you can control. Can you control that plane crash that happened today? No. Do you know anyone on that flight? Is there anything you can do about it? Probably not.”

“So what can you control? You may feel powerless, but you are not. Right now TODAY— you will never have more doors open to you than you have today. You will never be younger, you will never be better looking, today you have so many options. Tomorrow it will be a little less...

“So decide! Decide how you want to make this world better! And you don’t need to stop a plane crash to do it. Take in the trash cans for your elderly neighbor, make friends with that awkward kid, become a mentor, make dinner for someone, buy that homeless guy a burger.”

He went on, but I’m sure you understand the point by now. We are fragile creatures living on a fragile planet and the vast majority of it is GOOD if you focus on the “logical case for optimism.”

It is SO EASY to focus the other direction. News makes us sad.

But try to focus on the rule, not the exception.

Thank you to my professor, Dr. Michael Newbrough, wherever you are. You changed my life to such a degree, decades later, your handouts still sit in a prized location on my bookshelf, dog-eared after almost 2 decades of review

PS.... if you’re the kind of teacher who inspires your students years after they left your class, you did extremely well in life!